A Knights Rest
by samxxx
Summary: Whats past is past... or is it? Dreams hint that the war might not be over. Also what has happened to the soceress knights and what does the future hold for them? Can they save a lost soul as well as themselves? slightly edited previous chapters.
1. winhill and worries

Drip - Drip - Drip

_Hello everyone. Samxxx here. I've has this fic floating around in my head for years and have finally managed to get a start on it. It's the first thing I've written in about 5 years and thought it was time I'd start up again. I've no beta, so please feel free to comment on the style, because I'm totally rusty. It's rated T for now because of some language but I plan on having some M rated scenes which I will warn people about when the time comes. Hopefully this chapter gives a good starting point for the story. There will be future couples, and I have some plans for a couple of original characters. I want to base the story on seifer, laguna, quistis and ellone although everyone will be involved. Of course Squaresoft owns the copyright to all final fantasy VIII characters and world. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. _

Chapter 1: A knights rest

Drip - Drip - Drip

That constant noise was gonna drive him crazy if it didn't stop soon. It was the middle of the night for Christ's sake and he had to be up early for the first of his monster scouting trips for the old timers who lived in winhill. But the bathroom tap refused to stop leaking, hence seifer found himself on his back beneath the sink, water droplets landing smack bang on his forehead and spanner in hand ready to throttle the valve he was tightening.

A couple more turns and then silence… _ahh now I can finally get some bliss in here_, he thought as he sat up admiring his handwork. No more damned drips to keep him awake.

Setting his toolkit aside, and pulling off the black tee he's soaked doing the job he walked into his adjoining bedroom, threw the soggy shirt in the laundry hamper in the corner of the room and collapsed into the soft mattress of his double bed.

After a few minuets of just lying there he shifted, pulling open the draw of his bedside table, and fishing out a small tin of polish. Leaning across so he could reach beneath his bed he felt for the handle of hyperon, finding it and placing it on his lap to begin his careful maintence of his weapon. He did this every night before turning in. It was during this nightly ritual he thought about his life and how he ended up in winhill in the first place.

Admittingly the place he rented wasn't balamb hotel. But it had everything he needed, a simple bathroom with shower over the bathtub, a bed without a lumpy mattress, and kitchen with a working stove. Simple was what he liked.

The old lady who was his landlord had the place decorated in pastel blue with the odd crocheted dolly here, there and everywhere, with solid wood furniture. "No fuddy, shoddy craftsmanship in my house" was how she put it.

He'd just arrived at winhill when he met her. Old Mrs Vera Sharp was at the flower shop when she came bussling out into the road after the shop owner. Turned out the summer season had brought out the bite bug's who's probably attacked the shop because of the fragrant stock inside. The owner had fled in panic to try and find someone who could get the pests out of the place, and 80 odd year old Vera had ran after her as much as her old legs could carry her, but being followed by the buzzing bugs, she fell.

That's when he'd stepped in. The pests stood no chance. They were easy pray for someone with his experience. After he'd helped Vera up and made sure she wasn't injured she'd insisted on first finding the shop owner and rewarding seifer with a cool drink and home baked cookies.

He tried to get out of it. It wasn't his style to stay in a place too long. He didn't want attachments back then. He just wanted to be left to do with his life what he wanted in peace and try to make up for his stupidity in his youth. Yep, he'd grown up to be a whole different man after the war.

He'd ended up travelling around after time compression looking for a place he felt he could settle quietly into, preferably as isolated as places could come. Who'd had thought seifer almasy would ever want a quiet life with his past dream and ambition.

But here he was, 21, and definitely a different man than the arrogant youngster he was. The events of the second sorceress war had changed him so much. Back then he thought he was gonna be the star, the grand knight in shining armour. Rushing off to save the day.

In reality he was simply used. A vessel to do the witch ultimecia's dirty work. He spent a whole lotta time thinking since he came out of time compression. Of course he was pulled out in public and put on trial for his war crimes when he'd been found at first. In all honesty he thought there'd be a man hunt for his blood but the world council (formed from leaders of the gardens and governments of esthar, galbadia and trabia) had found him not guilty, based on the evidence given by himself, edea and Dr Odine, and he was given the all clear.

To him the whole time was one blurry memory, like his mind was lost in the fog. Odine had research pulled out from his ass about sorceresses and their knights having a connection stronger than magic, than emotion and because ultimecia wasn't from our time she manipulated it or something like that. He couldn't really understand what Odine was actually going on about. The little strange man just seamed to talk forever but at least the world council seamed to understand.

Apparently there were a lot of comparisons made to the first sorceress war, but by then his attention span was off and he was lost in his own thoughts. Seifer smirked at himself… yup that day was surreal. They even offered an open ticket to return to balamb garden at the end of it all. He declined that because he just wanted to be alone for a while.

He'd been travelling for around a year and a half when he got to winhill and within 24 hours Vera had him in her home, cooking him a proper sit down meal and telling him all about her life. He found that he liked her, she was one of those fussy, but not overly so, women who liked her independence and also liked to take care of people.

She conversed about the community, how the population was growing so old and thin that having a strapping young man to cook for was refreshing. New blood giving new life to the place and so on. At first he was unsure about her reaction when she asked him for his story. He'd found a lot of hostility on his travels even if he were innocent. Vera had seen this hesitation and rattled off at him while fishing out another cup of tea.

He remembered her speech pretty well, and her level of tolerance and acceptance impressed him because it was the first he'd come across in a long, long time. She'd said _"pysh don't think I don't recognise you, young man. Almasy isn't it. Waved around that gunblade of yours under the spell of a loony sorceress. Don't think I don't keep up with what's happening around. I listen to the news every night! I'm an old woman and I've been through two wars here. The first affected this community tremendously. Turned the young folk away. That council thingy said that you Knights cant control your actions back then and I say I believe that. What matters here is what happens today and you ain't done any harm to me so you will sit and eat and humour this old lady with what I am sure is a very interesting life story."_ It was stunning to him how full of life this old lady was.

She was one of the first people he'd met who'd wanted to listen to him. Others normally wanted him away from them as soon as possible. So Vera made him open up that very night. And the next day she asked him to do some work for her that she couldn't do in her old age, just general DIY jobs and so on while he was in town that she would pay him for.

Soon he had a few odd oldies ask him to do the same for them and the days turned into weeks, weeks into months. He was the youngest person in winhill, the next being the bar owner Pete, an who was a quiet geezer of about 55 who brought the place after some family tragedy during the first war. Pete told seifer one hot evening over a cold beer that he didn't know much about the previous owner, just that she needed to get to esthar as soon as possible but the woman died before she could get her travel plans finalized, she was in a right fluster apparently. That wasn't the first loss in the first war to the place either but seifer had a feeling that issue was very much hushed up and left to the past where it belonged.

The community feeling of the place was calming though. He was, for now, peaceful. Spent his days hunting any wondering monsters, doing odd DIY jobs and keeping the old women company, helping Pete with the bar.

The people here were comfortable and settled. Quiet. He picked up hyperion, looking into the reflection it now gave him, before placing it back in its box beneath his bed and putting the polishing kit back in his bedside draw.

Yup the old biddies loved having him about and he was beginning to have a good friend in Pete, and he hadn't felt that way since he met his posse and even though the posse split, he'd found it hard to find people to accept him and somehow he found that here in this village.

Although Vera did keep on remarking that he reminded her of someone from long ago though he didn't mind that because she would smile fondly about another strapping, good man and get on with whatever she would be doing.

He sat up on the side of his bed to pull off his boots and pants, just catching his reflection in the large mirror by his dresser. He took in his form, noticing that he didn't look so tired and withdrawn anymore. Sure he was attractive. The old women in town would often say they wished they were young again whenever he was doing the gardening for them with his top off.

He laughed at that, they sure were a randy lot in this place but harmless. They often admired the tattoo upon his chest. He looked down and tenderly brought up his hand to trace the outline.

To the ordinary person it looked like his firecross insignia, although they wouldn't notice the mystical lettering tied within its lines, or the claw like marking surrounding it. A permanent reminder of his past, of what he will forever be but in this place he felt he could stop for a little while, be forge a new being. It was time to settle, and he needed some good rest.

**-X.X.X-**

Clack – Clack – Clack

The constant echo of her footsteps down the halls of balamb garden followed quistis trepe as she marched towards the main elevator that ran the centre of the building. This time of night was her favourite. No students running all over the halls, no constant noise and distractions.

She liked the sense of stillness in garden at this late hour, in fact that was the beauty of balamb garden. The water fountains and sense of light and space you could only really see when no one else was around. She preferred the quietness; it let her really appreciate her surroundings even if her life was anything but quiet.

She walked at a rather fast pace, preferring to get to her destination within good time. She detested lateness, it just got her all riled up and ruffled when she was late. Glancing down at her wristwatch as she reached the base of the elevator she noted she had made good time today, having spent the evening in the library and finishing her latest student reports, getting done well before they were due.

That was why she decided to get them up to the office now. Squall normally left the office at 10.30pm at the latest and it was now 10pm so she'd figured she'd get them to him before closing in for the night, anyway Xu'd also be there if squall wasn't.

Walking the halls of garden always made her think and reflect on the importance of this place to her, it was after all her home. She could never see herself away from balamb. Time compression had left her at the secret spot in the training centre, the place she loved best and hated worst in garden.

She'd retreat to that place for its quietness to think and take in the best view that garden had to offer, that's why she loved it… she also hated it for its quietness because she was always alone when she was there. The one time she took someone there with her and she got told to talk to a wall. That was harsh. At the time she felt so sure that she wanted squall as her companion, of course now after all they've been through she felt that she was better off with him as a 'brother' and he was better off with rinoa as a partner.

But still, she felt she was the one left out of the gang more often than most. Her workload had grown so much since she got back to normal life at garden. It was natural that she was given her instructors licence back (as well as a big fat promotion to deputy instructor so her workload had in fact tripled) but in the end that meant more boring hours at the office.

She did love her teaching, her classes often hung on to her every word since she was one of the hero's of the war and her students would try to impress her so they worked harder than before. Downside to that was the number of trepies also tripled with her workload and fame. Oh she knew about that little organisation. They would find the lamest excuses to waste her time with, and all together she couldn't understand how they thought she was so special? They were a constant pain in her neck. But she put up with them because they were young and would move on and mature someday getting over her in the process.

The ping of the elevator brought her out of her deep thoughts and she stepped out, swiftly walking down the corridor and meeting Xu at the main reception desk. Xu was ever the same, always hidden behind the computer terminal that she never left, mountains of paperwork and briefs from squall and cid at her in tray. Still she never complained. Xu told her a lifetime ago that she enjoyed the responsibility of her work, that she felt like the hub of garden and loved being involved with everything that went on.

From field exams to canteen hotdog shortages Xu was there, and commander squall and headmaster cid wouldn't last a day without her. Upon hearing the clacking on the marble floor of quistis heels she looked up briefly and smiled widely, waving quistis through and taking the pile of folders from her hands "hey Quist, what lovely gifts you bring, are they for me?"

Quistis laughed lightly, nodding at the comment. Xu had a canny knack for making the workload just seem lighter hearted. Although Xu only ever revealed this attitude to her close friends and colleagues, to the cadets it was stone cold lieutenant Xu you do not want to mess with. Smiling at her close friend Quistis crossed her arms across her chest and grinned teasingly "Oh Xu, you do know how I love to give you early presents. These are the latest student progress reports for my underclassmen rank C. Literally just got them finished so got them up here before you get yourself to bed."

Xu shook her head at this, still giggling lightly from their conversation to end in a sigh "man you workaholic you. This isn't due in for another 72 hours. Thanks anyway, I can get them filed and on the database tomorrow, much more fun than the disciplinary committees meeting."

Quistis smirked at Xu as she placed the pile of folders at the top of her inbox tray, knowing that she was talking about the new team of seed's who ran the disciplinary committee annoyed the hell outta Xu. They were fresh from taking their exams, and completely avoided field work like hell, instead they were hell bent on working balamb garden's detention centre into a work of statistical art, reporting every tiny deviant act with such enthusiasm they bored Xu to tears at the annual monthly meeting.

She was just about to make a comment when the click of the doorknob at the end of the hall distracted both women, making them look at the end of the hallway as squall came into view. Quistis could tell by his hunched shoulders that he'd had a tiring day. He wasn't keen on the job at all but being the big hero of them all, he'd been talked into keeping his position as commander, with office, paperwork and all the lovely perks he hated.

Upon meeting quistis's gaze he nodded silently in greeting and walked up to Xu's desk, passing her a thick file. "Xu this needs to be seen by the headmaster tomorrow and could you arrange a meeting for 0800 hours Wednesday for us to discuss the contents. Cid has some information but this is the latest updates."

Xu nodded towards squall, unlocking a security draw within her desk and placing the mysterious file inside before locking the draw back up and flipping open the large black diary on her desk, finding Wednesday's schedule and filling in squalls request as she replied "yes commander, I'll get right on it. I'll see ya for lunch tomorrow as normal Quist?" Quistis quickly replied positive and left her busy friend with her late night work, bidding her a goodnight and following squall back towards the elevator.

Squall was running a hand through his hair as the doors slid open and he let Quistis step through first. Quistis could see that something was troubling his so clearly and knew he'd ask her opinion on whatever was on his mind soon. He was working on his communication skills. His job actually meant he had to open up to a degree; rinoa was working on the rest. Quistis found she was one of the lucky few who he'd actively talk to. Although she had a funny feeling it was a tiny bit because of his talk to a wall comment all those years ago.

Eventually Squall had admitted to her that it was the fact that quistis was so patient with him that made him open up to her with certain topic. Rinoa was quite pushy with him regarding the issue and had put to him that opening up to people meant his working life could be made easier. And squall would do anything to make life as commander easier. The doors slid shut and squall let out a small sigh. Quistis could visibly see the tension slipping from his body as he relaxed "looks like you've not had a break in a while, that folder looked like a lot of work."

Squall never moved to look towards her as he spoke "I'm just glad to get today over with, the days never seem to end and there's something I'm looking into as a favour to president Loire that's taking me forever to research and bloody figure out."

Quistis raised her eyebrow at this little spot of information in curiosity. She knew that while laguna wasn't on squall's list of favourite people in the world, ellone together with rinoa had urged him to try and build a friendship of sorts with his father. Squall turned towards quistis, sliding his hands in jacket pockets "You should know that gardens going to be travelling to esthar soon. I'm hoping to get some information sorted there and hopefully be able to get everyone out on a mission or two."

Quistis nodded at her commander and friend at this point "that sounds like something you're looking forward too." The elevator doors pinged open once more on the ground floor, and they both walked in comfortable silence towards the dormitories.

Before turning their separate ways to their own beds Squall stopped and faced Quistis "I'd suggest that you get plenty of rest over the next few days, we're all going to need it."

She smiled at him, inclining her head "I'll make sure I do, and you make sure you do too ok." Squall nodded once and walked away from her, towards his own bed and Quistis did hope that he'd manage to get some peace and rest for tonight.


	2. waking and waiting

Knock – Knock – Knock

Samxxx here again with a long overdue chapter 2. My internets been a mess so I cant say when I'm gonna get chapter 3 up here. Special mention for cerespallas, hope this is easier to read. And again I don't own the characters, squaresoft does.

**Chapter 2: A knights rest**

Squall closed the door softly, letting it click shut into the empty living space that was his quarters that he shared with rinoa. The standard room used to be very cold to him, but since rin had moved in, the evidence of her warmth was everywhere in the apartment.

The blue pillows on the couch, the lipstick left on the side panel next to his gunblade case, the pictures of their friends and loved ones left everywhere. She managed to make the place actually looked lived in, compared to the way he used to have nothing in the room. It showed how much she had been let into his heart.

He slipped off his leather jacket and placed it on the back of the couch, walking over to the open kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Twisting the lid, he took a nice long drink, emptying half the bottle in one go, quenching his thirst. Days like today always left him thirsty. He was left feeling uncomfortable by the report findings - they just were too strange.

And when strange things happened to him, they were often followed by a lot of drama he didn't want. But these events were hitting too close to home. He rubbed his eyes; feeling very tired all of a sudden. He'd discuss his fears with cid in the morning, for now he just wanted to get in his bed and hold rinoa close to him.

He again made sure that the bedroom door closed as quietly as possible, bending down to ruffle the fur of angelo behind his ear as the loyal dog trotted up to him from his basket in the corner of the room. Rinoa was in bed, sheets tangled around her torso as she tossed and turned over lightly in her sleep.

Squall toed his boots off at the door, and as quietly as possible, walked to the bathroom to undress. Having sorted out his nightly routine, he stopped at the bathroom door, crossing his arms as he gazed at rinoa. The light from the bathroom filtered over her body and he realized that she had her hands clinched up in fists. At this he quickly walked over, slid across the bed and beneath the covers, wrapping his arm around her. She tossed for just a moment before waking with a sharp gasp looking franticly around as she calmed down slowly. Squall stoked at her hair as she snuggled closer to him, holding on to him like she couldn't let him go.

After a moment he lent back to look at her face "_shhhhhh_ I'm here. Was that another one?"

Rinoa bit her bottom lip, sighing into him "yes… always the same dream. The rain, the running… always away from her…" She looked up into squall, confusion in her dark eyes, slowly filling with tears of fear and frustration "Squall, why would I be dreaming this now? Dreaming about her night after night. It's been years since she died. She's dead... Adels dead!"

Squall held her close to him, letting her feel his warmth, letting his presence clam her down more. He was just as confused as she was, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Slowly she drifted back to sleep again, as she traced her fingers over his tattoo, feeling the pounding of his heartbeat beneath the back lines and markings.

The image of griever made out of magical script that was only known to the sorceress in his arms and himself. It had appeared the day he made his promise to her, pledging him self to her forever as her knight.

**-X.X.X-**

Knock – Knock – Knock

Laguna halted the pacing of his large office and called out to the person at the door to come in. Kiros stepping into his spot in the office and sitting down comfortably at one of the many chairs scattered around. How the man could be so cool and comfortable wherever he went was beyond Laguna.

He himself couldn't stay still, as long as his mind was awake and active he'd move along with it. He swore he even did a jig in bed every night, as he'd often found his sheets either flung on the floor or somehow twisted around his body in a tangle. No one could confirm this, as it'd been years since he'd shared his bed with another person, but he saw the state his bed sheets got in. And right now his pacing was non-stop because he couldn't get his mind to slow down and actually make sense.

He finally stopped pacing and walked towards kiros, stopping to look at the glorious esthar view in the night, twiddling his thumbs behind his back, breaking the silence, asking the question that plagued his mind.

"How's she doing?"

At this Kiros shook his head and replied the one thing Laguna did not want to hear "Not any better… she's finding it so hard to sleep because of her nightmares, and she's exhausted because she's not getting her rest." Kiros paused, his gaze falling upon the reflection of his worried friend.

He tenderly opened the file he held in his lap, studying the first sheet of information closely. "Odine is still working on the scans from last night and says it's going to take some time to get the results. I worry for her health. It has now been a month since this started." He then stood, and passed the file over to laguna.

At this Laguna looked down at the file his hands. It was a copy of correspondents and research on the current situation. Dreams were misunderstood and odine was fascinated with the theory that the subconscious could fire warnings and messages through them and when he spoke to squall earlier today, squall had confided that the same was happening to rinoa. Squall was worried and he just felt that something was going to happen. A gut feeling that made him tingle like his body is just about to cramp up.

So he did what he always did in times when he felt he couldn't get his mind around a problem, he asked squall to come to Esthar. Balamb garden was now on its way and with it Edea and Cid, as well as squall. If anyone could help them understand her strange nightmares it'd be Edea. He felt it would be best if garden were here, so whatever was happening to them, they would at least all be together.

It just made him so nervous when he found out about rinoa's dreams. If she was having the same visions as ellie then what did it mean? What really scared him was the content of ellies strange visions. Ellies power was rooted in the past and now her dreams contained elements of that past… somehow warped. Visions that showed the return of the sorceress Adel that left ellie in a state of blind panic when she awoke. And they didn't seem to be going away. Her dreams were just getting worse.

Laguna's head hurt from the worry and the memories of the past. Adel was twisted… he'd never forget the moment he first saw the wicked sorceress, the claws and evil face contorted with pleasure at the pain and havoc she caused. She terrorized little girls for pleasure, and wanted nothing more than to be the most powerful being on earth. He was thankful to have saved ellone from her when he did. But he'd never forget the remains found in her room in odines laboratory. Bodies of young girls, half naked, ripped to shreds, faces contoured in terror. He'd never seen such abuse in his life, and it made him sick on the spot.

The sooner that Garden arrived in esthar, the better he'd feel. But for now he'd keep an eye on ellone in her fitful nights, praying that the uneasiness he felt would soon go away.


	3. the dream

3

Hey again. Here's chapter 3, hope it entertains, enlightens and gives mystery. Feel free to leave any comments or praise. It makes my day getting reviews. This chapter is a little on the short side for me but hopefully the rest will be a bit longer… or let me know if it's just the right length lol. I'm still setting the scene but romance will be on the way! Oh and I don't own anything to do with final fantasy VIII but you all know that. Samxxx

**Chapter 3: A knights rest**

Her hair stuck to her face as fat heavy raindrops fell around her, seemingly falling down in sheets. It was deathly cold, pickling her as the rain hit, making her draw her only protection, her shawl around her tightly although her shawl did little to protect her from the rain, the thin green material transparent and sticking to her skin, same as the rest of her clothing.

Dark grey clouds phased above her, clouds that curled ferociously, letting no light pass. The darkness around her seamed to show shadows of things she knew weren't there… yet she felt like she was being constantly watched.

Shivering, she moved one step, then another, making her way down the shadowy hall towards the massive statue before her. In better light she would recognise the figure as a human, crossed legged with a harp in their lap… but here it was twisted. The legs bent back, the surface of the skin ripped and gorging. Flashes of lightning made it appear real. Every time the light lit up the monument, the colours looked as if they were merging. Grey to pale white, black claws, lips curling back in a horrid yellow snarl and blood red rivets flowing down from the wounds on the horror before her. She could swear it was beating with life.

She approached the monstrosity, curious to why she was being drawn to it, or was it drawing her? Suddenly it moved, the face turning directly towards her and grinning; sharp teeth bared and slanted red eyes looking directly at her. A face she hoped wasn't real, with bulked out features torn and bulging, speaking at her with the harsh, sickening tones and a look of pleasure reflected at that of her own horror.

The monster licked her lips, as a hypnotic, soft voice called out at her, drawing her even closer to the giant facing her "child… good little girl… come to me…my power is weak… but my soul is still…this world is small…come to me… let me look at you…let me taste you" The claws seamed to unfold in melody to the voice. Ellone couldn't help but to move towards the creature, up the stone steps, she was now but a few meters from those outreached hands.

A flash of lightning now showed a smile of such evil proportions it made ellone stop cold, causing a flash of impatience to Adel's cold eyes " come to me girl… let me taste…"

Ellone flinched at the words and stepped back, her mind screaming at her that this wasn't right. That she should flee.

Adel's form roared with fury at this action, breaking ellone from her trance. She span on her heels and started to run. Her eyes lit in panic, as she heard the unfolding of the sorceresses limbs and looked over her shoulder to see Adel crawling towards her, using her arms to pull herself forward, legs somehow coiled behind her.

All at once she slipped on the wet ground and fell, tripping over her long skirt and landing hard. Turning over to get up she saw Adel was upon her, seconds left till she reached ellone, when a sharp bang was heard, followed by another and another. The sound of bullets raining over her form and making her hug the ground.

Loud footsteps could be heard running towards her and she looked up trying to make out the figure coming towards her in the rain. Adel was screaming in fury as the bullets hit her hard in the chest, ripping at her, causing more and more red blood to pour over her form.

The figure, dressed in black to merge with the darkness swooped down and pulled ellone up from the ground and pushed her into a run, screaming at her to go, but also protecting her from Adel's swooping claws as the dark gunblade followed the motion, curving out around her and swinging in Adel's direction.

Ellone ran on, lungs burning, wet cold trails of water stinging her skin. She could hear the screams and roars of the battle behind her and reaching the end of the hall drove her body past the grand archway.

To wake up with a scream, breathing heavily and looking wildly around her room. The pale green wash walls, the white lacy bedspread, Ward looming over her, a worried look flashing in his eyes from leaping off the chair from opposite her bed. She was ok. She was in esthar.

Ward tenderly took a cool cloth to her face, helping sooth her as she collapsed down into her bed. The man couldn't say anything but she could see in his eyes the pain he felt for her and his silent questions.

She looked up at him and smiled softly "thanks ward… I needed that."

The large man nodded at her as he sat back down in the chair, looking over ellone as she drew herself up into a sitting position and grabbed the notebook and pen from her bedside table. Dr Odine had expressed that she record all her dreams as soon as she awoke for his analysis. She shivered in recollection… this night the dream had gone beyond its usual pace. She normally awoke at the point where she tripped before Adel… why did that not happen tonight? Who was the gunblader? And why did this mysterious person's voice seem so familiar?

Ward had produced a cheese sandwedge and glass of milk for her while she wrote in her 'dream journal' before watching her intensely. And she munched absently as she noted the imagery down on paper. The thing was her dreams were becoming more clear and complex. This all confused her. She had so many unanswered questions. Yet she could only think of the gunblader that had saved her. That certainly was a mysterious new twist.

She looked down at the sketch she'd made of the weapon. It looked unlike a standard model; she'd never seen anything like it. And she would know by the array of gundblade special issues of weapons monthly that squall always like to read when he was in esthar. The metal was dark, tinged grey like pewter but had to be reinforced with something else because it was a very strong weapon. Along the length of the curved blade about an inch inside was engraved lettering like she had never seen before. And each letter seemed to be razor sharp against the smooth metal.

One thing worried her about the dream this time… it was clear as to where she was. The other times it had been fog like, she just couldn't figure it out then. She could now… she was dreaming about Tears point. She shuddered thinking how close it was. Tears point was in south-eastern esthar and that felt way too close for comfort. She definitely felt the need to run, to get as far away as possible from that place. Something was definitely happening, and whatever it was it wasn't good if it involved Adel.


	4. questioning

4

Hey guys, lol I'm on a roll. I couldn't just leave it at that last chapter. The stories really gonna get into the swing of things soon! It's all kicking off and I'm excited about what's to come. I have quite a lot planned… but on with the show and as you all know I don't own anything to do with final fantasy VIII

**Chapter 4: A knights rest**

A shill loud ringing brought her to consciousness as Quistis slowly cracked open her eyes, groaning at her alarm clock and wishing she could have just stayed in bed. But it was Wednesday, which meant she had a full day ahead of her.

Sighing to no one she swung her legs over to sit up and stretch out her arms above her, making her white vest ride up her side. She was a natural night owl, so mornings were not her favoured time of day. But she did what she had to without complaint. And that included writing up reports for squall in the small hours of the night, and getting up for her many classes in the mornings.

She surveyed her accommodation as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, simple and comfortable was how she'd describe it. Her bed was a double, covered with a crisp cotton white and red duvet and a couple of large red pillows. She had seen the bed set in a quaint home furnishing store in timber last year when she was off duty from finishing a mission clearing a large cockatrice nest from nearby Obel Lake.

The colour was what attracted her. She adored red, she'd wear it everyday if she could but the colour didn't exactly make her look great. Softer colours suited her pale skin tone, hence the peach she wore often. Anyway this was the first set of linen she'd seen that was red, and more importantly they weren't 'sex sheets' that she hated. Everywhere she looked it was like the only red bed sets available were tacky satin or silk made for the boudoir and made her want to cringe.

Her furniture was the standard issue that was in all of the upper rank seed accommodation, but her few nick knacks warmed the place up. Her bedside table held an elegant red tiffany lamp, her alarm clock and a picture frame containing a group shot of her friends taken from the party held in their honour.

After switching off the alarm she smiled at the picture. They were all having the time to relax and unwind when Xu was bugged by Selphie to take the snapshot. Selphie had dug out her camera after the camcorder's battery had died. The picture was her favourite.

Cid and Edea stood in the centre, proud and tall, cid with his arm wrapped around his wife's waist. Quistis herself had stood on the other side of cid and was smiling towards the camera. Irvine stood on her other side, his arms cuddling Selphie who had his hat perched on her head. Squall stood next to Edea, a slight smile on his face as rinoa next to him had leant up to plant a light kiss on his cheek. And zell was crouched in front of them all, arms outstretched, hot dog in both hands and mouth wide open in his mega watt smile having ran out and posed just as the flash went off.

Finally feeling awake she padded over to her mirror and began her morning routine. Yes sometimes it was dull to start the day with a series of stretches but if anything it helped her wake up and gave her much needed energy for the day. On finishing she walked right over to her small bathroom, grabbing her soft terry bathrobe and hanging it on the back hook on the door.

_Now this is heaven!_ She thought to herself as she stepped under the shower spray and lathered up her body puff with her creamy shower gel. She loved the coconut scent it left the room. This had to be her second favourite place in garden… and her bed would follow up close third.

She took comfort in the small luxuries she had made for her self; her home was her resting spot. This was the place to hide when she needed to get away from the over zealous trepies and Selphie when she was on a sugar high.

Half an hour later she emerged from the bathroom, refreshed and dressed in her seed uniform. She walked over to her desk and switched on her computer, then padded across her sitting room to the kitchenette, opened her fridge and selected a cereal bar and the carton of orange juice.

She returned to sit at her desk cereal bar in mouth and a tall glass in one hand and the juice in her other. The computer would always take a couple of minuets to upload because of her e-mail account. She wished she could limit the e-mails she received from the trepies but her address was open to all students because of the necessity as an instructor to be available to answer any queries that students had.

The screen glared brightly at her as the general garden welcome page opened up. _You have 187 messages._ Quickly pouring out her drink she sipped at it while scrolling down her new message. There was the normal amount of love declarations, the trepies did make up about 90 of her in box after all, and she quickly scrolled through those, empting her in box as appropriate.

This eventually left a couple of messages from Selphie updating her on the current festival plans, some student queries about the assignment she had set on the ethics of field missions for them for the following week, and a message from Xu enlisting that she attend the meeting with cid and squall today. Not much else was said about that.

She glanced up from her desk to the clock that hung on her wall. She had an hour until the meeting; she may as well get her proper breakfast at the canteen and drop off the files that she planned to work on later at her office.

She lent back, now waiting for the terminal to switch off. Squall had looked worried when she saw him two nights ago. He'd said he was doing some work for his father, and garden was moving towards Esthar at a very quick pace. Just what was happening? Squall liked to keep garden grounded in Balamb, he wouldn't give authority for garden to move unless it was important. She was curious as too what could be going on? Well more than likely she would get some answers at today's meeting.

**-X.X.X-**

"She had another one last night..." Kiros informed Laguna who looked up at him, tucking his stray hair behind his ear out of his worried tired eyes.

He sighed, stood from his seat to grasp the file Kiros had in his hands. It was a copy of the dream journal that ellie had made. "…And how was she?"

"These dreams are apparently getting clearer to her. She was able to pin point a location as to where she was - Tears point." Kiros nodded at Laguna as his friend's head snapped up at this. They all were worried, but Laguna was taking it the hardest because he was so close to ellone.

Laguna was in deep thought, and Kiros could pretty much guess what his friend was thinking. He was asking himself the same questions. Why now? What did these dreams mean? Why ellone…

Laguna sat back down, his head in his hands tenderly rubbing his eyes. He'd not been sleeping because of his nerves and had started keeping a small handgun nearby just in case. He just wasn't liking the situation one bit but at least now he had something he could work with… admittingly he'd never liked tears point. The place was just depressing to him.

Laguna lent back in his chair, looking sternly at the report cover on his desk before looking up at Kiros, a flash of action now present in his eyes. "Seed arrives at noon, I want a meeting set up here for as soon as they arrive, I want ellone and Dr Odine present too. After we talk I'm gonna have a team explore Tears point and make sure nothings out of order there."

Kiros nodded but one question graced his mind "what happens if there is something at tears point?"

Laguna looked harshly at his friend, it was the same look he held when he'd witnessed Adel's treatment of those poor girls she brutally abused. "Then we'll take whatever action is needed."

Kiros bowed and walked out of the office swiftly, leaving Laguna and the report. He picked up the file and opened it tenderly. He knew how ellone's dreams always began… she was drawn to Adel, who wanted her and then she would freeze and run, Adel chasing her… to experience this vision night after night made his heart bleed for ellie. His girl had had enough pain from that monster when she was young.

He paused as he got to the last page, his frown deepening as he traced a finger over the drawing that ellone had made. That gunblade… he'd seen it before. He'd fought against it himself years ago when on his search for ellone. The others didn't know it, but he knew it's owner… and that person hadn't been seen for years, not since Adel's capture.

His fists slammed against his desk, throwing the file across the room. He didn't like this one bit… if _she_ was involved than Adel was more likely to be a real threat. Seed better hurry up and get here a.s.a.p.


End file.
